So it's understandable that as of Monday, American Ballet Theatre corps de ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick, whose Port Rouge will have its U.S. premiere tonight at the Youth American Grand Prix gala, was still torn about which songs to include.

"Yesterday I was like, Can I add one more song?" she says. (The full piece recently premiered in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre; the YAGP performance will be a slightly shortened version.) Hamrick originally planned to cut "Sympathy for the Devil," but on Monday changed her mind and called YAGP's artistic director Larissa Saveliev to ask if she could swap out "You Can't Always Get What You Want" instead. "Just now I called her again and asked if I can just do the full program," she says. "So don't be surprised if you come on Thursday and see 'Always.' "

Jagger helped Hamrick curate the songs, and added an orchestral score behind the rock classics to lend them a custom ballet feel.

While the Russian premiere included a mix of Mariinsky dancers and current and former New York City Ballet members—along with Hamrick herself, who had to fill in for an injured performer at the last minute—the New York version will feature ABT dancers Herman Cornejo, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III, Skylar Brandt, Christine Shevchenko and Sung Woo Han, and NYCB principal Daniel Ulbricht, the only dancer to perform in both shows.

Most of the New York cast competed at YAGP as students, as did Hamrick's co-choreographer, Joanna DeFelice: "I wanted people who appreciate the competition and love it as much as I do," says Hamrick.

What She Learned From Her First Choreographic Experience

"I was questioning constantly at the beginning. I was trying to be too perfect," she says. "I didn't feel like it was my place to tell these incredible artists what to do."

Especially at the Mariinsky, Hamrick says, she was overwhelmed by the history of the institution. "I was like, I can't believe I'm in this building. To be a guest and to also demand what I need for my piece...it was hard at first to make those requests, but slowly I managed to get out of that."

"I learned that it's not about doing something that's already been done," she says. "It's about making something new."

The Adorable Story of How Port Rouge Got Its Name

"I've been listening to this music for so many years, and sometimes you have the lyrics a little off," she says. "So 'red door' is a joke between Mick and I about some of the lyrics I had wrong...you can probably guess which ones." ("I see a red door and I want it painted black.")

On Coming Back to Choreographing

Around 10 years ago, Hamrick applied for an ABT choreographic initiative (an early precursor to what was launched last year as the ABT Incubator.) She presented a "wacky" idea, and didn't make the cut. "I was like, 'I'm never choreographing again!' " she says.

But when she talked to ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie about her Rolling Stones idea more recently, he was encouraging, and told her he was glad that she was taking another stab at choreography.

"I was never super into choreographing because I was too unsure of myself and I cared too much what people thought," she says. "This helped me to be like, it's okay. Do you, and if people like it, that's okay. Now I find myself listening to music and thinking, this would be really cool to dance to! I love that I'm already looking for new things."

The Choreographers Who Inspired Her

Though this was Hamrick's first time choreographing, she's had years of experience working with world-class choreographers at ABT. "I looked to Twyla Tharp and Alexei Ratmansky," she says. "They know what they want, and you know their look when you see it. I don't think I have a style yet, but they gave me confidence to try to find one."

Her Hopes for the Piece

"I want the piece to keep growing. I have a whole list of songs I want to add to it," she says. "I wasn't setting out to make the best new ballet the world has even seen. I'm setting out to make people smile and enjoy themselves, to shut off their brains for eight minutes and come away feeling good."

A white tulle dress, time travel, the Eiffel Tower at night... these elements come together in Until Midnight, a new dance film by Christopher Alexander of Zen Film Works. This eight-minute long vignette opens with Louise (played by Louise Schirmer), a former ballerina now living alone in old age. Through the delivery of a mysterious letter and a wristwatch from her past, she returns briefly to her youthful self, danced by former Washington Ballet dancer Brittany Cavaco. In a Cinderella-like twist, Louise has until midnight to find her beloved Jean Pierre (Sebastien Thill, former dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and Hamburg Ballet) for one last dance. According to Cavaco, all of the movement was improvised, created by herself and Alexander in each location.

"People have so much fear associated with arabesque turns," says Peter Boal, artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. Here, he shares images and ideas to help you confidently master this advanced pirouette. "It's a real accomplishment when you can put it all together."

Hollywood may have the Oscars, but ballet has the Prix de Benois de la Danse. Held every spring at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, the prestigious international awards ceremony recognizes dancers, choreographers, composers and designers for their extraordinary work on and off the stage. This year's laureates, chosen by a jury, were announced during an awards ceremony last night, followed by a star-studded gala featuring many of the nominated artists.

American Ballet Theatre principal James Whiteside is known for more than just his uber-charismatic presence on the ballet stage; He doubles as both the drag queen Ühu Betch and the pop star JbDubs. Whiteside's newest musical release, titled WTF, came out last week, and is for sure his most ballet-filled song to date. Both the lyrics and the choreography are jam-packed with bunhead references, from theRose Adagio to Haglund's Heel to a framed portrait of George Balanchine. Not to mention the fact that he and his four backup dancers (Matthew Poppe, Douane Gosa, Maxfield Haynes and Gianni Goffredo) absolutely kill it in pointe shoes.